Ninety Nine Red Balloons
by JustThatKindOfSpecial
Summary: Inspired by 99 Red Balloons by Goldfinger. Kakashi has this one last mission, THE mission. The mission to end all missions then he can stay at home with his family. But it looks like someone of a tender young age will need some convincing... Suggest you read 'The Reason To Be Late' first but meh, you could try reading it like this.


**Ninety Nine Red Balloons**

 **A/N SUGGEST THAT YOU READ "THE REASON TO BE LATE" FIRST TO GAIN SOME KIND OF CONTEXT**

"Kakashi!" Ume hissed, shoving her hand on his shoulder.

He grunted, turning a page.

"Kakashi!"

If he just continued to stare blankly at the lines, surely she wouldn't-

"Why aren't you taking this seriously?"

It was not to be.

A black eye looked up as he took in the appearance of his wife.

Ume had her frilly apron on, a cake battered spatula in one hand and an accusing finger on the other. But the scowl on her round face was probably the most worrying.

"I want you to go out there and, you know," she interlinked all her fingers, despite the messy batter getting gooey everywhere, "bond."

"Bond," he repeated flatly.

She nodded eagerly, her teeth coming out to worry on her lower lip.

Kakashi sighed, snapping his book shut and made his way to the window where he clambered out with ease.

It was so difficult being with a younger woman sometimes. Where he was lazy, she was energetic.

Where (not that he would ever admit this outloud) he got exhausted after three rounds in a row, Ume was still raring to go. And that was _after_ some pretty intense moments of pleasure.

"And don't you come back in until you have sorted your mess out!" Ume's sing-song-screech, as he liked to call it, could probably be heard in Suna but instead all they had were angry neighbours pounding their fists on the dry walls.

Clambering up to the roof, he saw Kame perched on the edge with her chin cradled on her knees, staring out at the sunset covered horizon.

"You shouldn't be so close to the edge," he commented mildly as he settled beside her with a scuffle.

Kame said nothing.

Her fringe covered the one eye facing him behind a black screen of unruly hair.

"You've been out here for quite a while," he continued, his shoulders slouching as he clasped his hands between his knees. "Your mother is getting worried."

"I don't care," she mumbled out petulantly, turning her face a little away.

"How cruel," he sighed melodramatically, "and she is giving you a brother for all my efforts to convince her otherwise."

There was no response other than a muffled 'hmph!'

They stayed silent for a while, Kakashi just staring out at the darkening day, his one eye lazily documenting the last one in Konoha before he left the next day on a mission.

It was his duty as a ninja first to complete his missions. However, this came into direct confrontation with his secondary purpose in life: to be there on his daughter's eighth birthday.

He could still remember the only emotion that Kame showed when he said that he wouldn't be able to make it the day before. While Kakashi had the most hardened of hearts, the sight of her black eye welling with unshed tears before she let out a whimper, sprinting to her room, was almost enough to chip at the iron.

He heard the sobs all night.

"Why do you have to go?" a whine finally came beside him.

Glancing down, he saw that Kame was glaring up at him defiantly, her little hands clenching into adorable yet already scarred fists.

Kakashi sighed before lifting his arm, an unspoken gesture for human affection.

Being the most antisocial man on the planet hadn't made him a good friend but it made him an excellent father, especially when his daughter knew how rare a moment it would be if he was openly offering it without any cajoling or bribery.

Her eyes welling again, her face scrunched up before she was wailing into his ribs, her fists grabbing as much of the skin tight fabric as she could. Maybe even taking a little bit of his flesh with her.

Instead of protesting, Kakashi tightened his hold ever tighter, the other coming to stroke her hair away from her face.

"Why? Why? Why?" Kame sobbed into his side, her mouth open as she continued to cry, wetting the fabric with her salty tears.

"It is the way of the ninja," he said softly, his hand continuing to push the rebelling hair away from his daughter's forehead, "you will learn this soon enough too when you start going on missions in a couple year's time."

"B-but," her eyes looked dolefully up at him, her lower lip wobbling.

The face was so heart wrenchingly painful that Kakashi almost said how he was going to refuse to go on it, however it was the retrieval of one of his ex-students.

He couldn't refuse to do that.

Instead, he stood abruptly, scooping Kame in his arms and leaped off the side.

So used to acts like this, Kame just continued to grip onto his top, her face buried in her father's neck, absorbing the comforting scent of pine, trying to sink into his very skin.

Feeling her jumping up and down, Kakashi secured a tighter hold on her, praying that the shop hadn't closed yet.

Seeing the open sign, he put in an extra burst of speed.

Especially when he saw the balloon man about to venture inside to shut the toy shop.

"Excuse me!" Kakashi called out, his steps slowing to a walk when he saw the grizzly old man shoot a glare over his shoulder at him.

 _Talk about customer service._

"What?" the balloon holder asked rudely.

"How many," Kakashi dug furiously in his pocket for the little change that he had, before he accumulated it all in the palm of his hand with a jingle, "balloons can this buy?"

He felt Kame glance up at him worriedly but he decided to keep his gaze firm on the man.

The old man stared up at his red balloons thoughtfully.

"You can get ninety nine," he finally said, his shrewd gaze just staring at the money in Kakashi's palm.

"Great," the grey haired father dumped all the silver into the man's hand, placing Kame's feet on the ground while his other hand sought the strings of the balloons. "Then thank you for selling them to me."

With that, Kakashi turned right back around, holding onto Kame's hand and proceeded to drag her back the way they came.

They continued to walk in silence, the rubber of the floating spheres squeaking as they rubbed together.

"Dad?" a timid voice asked from beside him.

"Hmm?"

"Can," Kame hesitated, scuffing her shoes. "Can I ride on your shoulders?"

Kakashi sighed but crouched all the same unwilling to admit that he was unable to deny her anything. How was the famous Copy Nin reduced to this?

Women; they lead to nothing but trouble.

"I think we are both getting a little too old for this," he grunted, standing upright, holding onto one of Kame's little knobbly knees for support.

"Only until my eighth birthday," her hands clamped onto his forehead, wary of moving his eye patch.

Kakashi almost said that she could ride on his shoulders again and again if her tone lost that saddened edge when she was reminded of the fact that he wouldn't be able to get back in time to celebrate.

That was what this evening was for, to celebrate her eighth birthday while he was still at home.

In the end, Kakashi said nothing, choosing to hike up a wall in favour of leaping over roof tops. Luckily, Kame's childish giggles were enough to set his emotions up to a higher level.

As much as he pretended not to care about leaving Kame and pregnant Ume, it mattered a great deal, especially when missions as long as three months come about.

But that was what this ultimately for, he gritted his teeth as he hurdled over a particularly high wall. This was the mission to end all long term missions.

He wasn't going to go away in a long while after this and especially after he will put Sasuke in prison. There was no need for him to leave to village any more.

"Dad?" Kame asked in a small voice, her bushy hair coming across the vision of his remaining eye. "What are all the balloons for?"

"You'll see when we get home and have your delicious birthday cake," he replied vaguely, picking up his pace, knowing that Ume would most likely be in the foulest of moods right then since they were extremely late for dinner.

Climbing through the window, Kakashi spied his wife sitting primly at the table, a birthday cake ready and waiting.

Releasing the balloons so they bounced off the ceiling, knowing that they weren't going anywhere, he led his daughter to the table.

And just like the scowl that had been on his wife's face only moments before now beamed with a light that would rival any fire. Her hand pushed Kame towards the table, sitting her down a little forcefully in front of the cake as she lit up all the candles.

"Alright, remember to make a wish!"

Kame paused for a moment, her milky white baby teeth, barely making a dent in her lip while her forehead on the other hand was furrowed in concentration. Finally, beaming, she sucked in a huge breath, inflating her lungs as far as they would go before puffing it all out in one fell swoop.

"I wished for dad not to go away on any long missions after this!" She looked so proud of herself that Kakashi felt heartbreakingly sad when he told her that you weren't supposed to tell anyone what your wish was.

Instead of breaking down crying at the thought of not getting her wish, a mature and wizened expression fell as a cover above the child like gleam of her smile and simply said:

"Sure it was a wish, but dad always comes home and always keeps his promises."

Her trust and finality was almost too much and he thought that he would have to warn her that he could _die_ on this mission but then the sight of her beaming, her black eyes, both now on show made his second guess before giving up with his own eye crinkle.

"That I do shrimp, that I do," he ruffled her hair before hoisting her in the air suddenly.

Kame squealed with delight, complaining that she wanted to be put down, all the while clinging onto Kakashi's shoulders for dear life, her little scrabby nails just digging into his skin.

"Right, we are going to sort these balloons out before we put you to bed alright?" he held her waist as he stared into her eyes seriously.

The girl puffed out a breath, sending her fringe flopping out and in her face.

"Fine!"

"Great," Kakashi grinned as he began picking at the tails of all the bright red balloons.

Kame copied him, albeit at a slower pace, her grin lowering down into a saddened frown.

Finally, when all ninety nine were caught, Kakashi turned to her and picked at the green ribbon that Ume decided to put in Kame's hair that day, until he had retied the bow to the strings of the balloons.

"Why so many balloons?" his daughter asked again wrapping her arms around his hips.

She was getting so tall.

"Those are the days that I will be gone," his hand lay absent minded on her head, ruffling it unintentionally. "And I want you to write to me how each of those days have been going."

Kame frowned in confusion.

"But I can't write you letters as I won't know where you are," her finger scrubbed under her nose. "So how's that going to work?"

Kakashi bopped that cute button nose with his pointer as he crouched so he was the same height as her.

"Silly pest," he rested his hands on her shoulders comfortingly, "that's why you are going to write them to me and tie one letter to one balloon for each day, and you keep doing that until you reach the final one and the day after that, you won't even need to write me one because I'll be," he brought her into a hug, tucking his cheek on top of her bushy hair, "right here for you to tell me yourself."

He heard her shaky breaths but chose to ignore them, knowing that this wasn't an emotional display like earlier, where she believed it would get him to stay.

No, this time it was the ninja who refused to let their comrade see her cry.

It made him both proud and sad that such a youngster was already this mature.

It reminded him of him at that age, and that wasn't a good thing.

"You'll be right here," Kame repeated, her hands tightening for a moment before pulling away.

The only sign of her crying were the slightly reddened eyes in the dim lighting.

"Right," Kakashi clapped his hands before standing up right, "story time then bed."

His daughter whined good naturedly, her hand seeking his one last time. He let her hold it.

"Two stories?" she tried to weasel as she let him button up her pyjama top.

"No."

"What about one and half?" she asked as she let him fold her into the bed.

"No."

"What about if they're really short," she stared up at him, as she watched him head over to her mounting bookshelf, "then can we have three?"

Kakashi shot an exasperated look over his shoulder at the child cocooned in the safety of her pink sheets.

"It's still going to be one," he cleared his throat as he lowered his mask and clambered into the bed with her, tucking her small body into his side, relishing the scent of clean child and her special new jasmine soap that he got her for Christmas. "Pest."

Kame continued to grumble, but snuggled further into his side without much more complaints, content just to let her father stay and read her to sleep.

…o0o…

Creeping into their bedroom, Kakashi shut the door quietly.

He had spent most of the night just watching Kame sleep, knowing that it could be the last time he would see her.

But also it was because she kept waking up every damn time he tried to make an escape and a cute little fist would hold onto him, begging him to stay…

Well, that's what he would tell Ume; she would never let him live it down otherwise.

Stripping himself down, with only the moonlight to guide him, he climbed into the bed and huddled towards Ume's warmth.

"Mmmm, Kakashi?" a garbled, sleep filled voice asked.

Sometimes he wished that she wouldn't talk like that because a certain _someone_ always got so excited, especially with the feel of her soft skin under hand, it was damn near impossible to control his urges.

"Shh," he kissed her neck, one hand already creeping northwards to caress a tender globe.

However, he was caught as soon as it mounted over the circumference of her large, pregnant belly. Instead, Ume laced her fingers with his, turning over and snuggled into his chest, humming contentedly all the while.

He swore women were honestly nothing but trouble. Especially when they were as adorable as both his wife and his daughter.

Again, not something he would say aloud. _Ever_.

"Mmm, Kak'shi," Ume snuggled her nose further into his clavicle.

A sigh escaped him as he hooked one hand on the back of her head, holding her to him.

Everything was silent and perfect until-

"Who knew you were such a softie," Ume giggled, her laughter vibrating through him, "I can't wait to tell Kurenai!"

He sighed again.

He was never going to live this down. Ever.


End file.
